Tracing the origins of “twinkly noodley” guitar

Twinkly noodley guitar is a defining motif of the Midwest Emo subgenre, but where did it all begin, and how did it evolve?

By my calculation, several second wave emo bands of the 90s had a twinkly sound (Mineral, Indian Summer, etc.) that laid the groundwork for it all, with Cap’n Jazz in particular leading the charge on the more abstract and proto-noodley variety of emo guitar work. From Cap’n Jazz you get Joan of Arc, which has considerable twinkle, and of course, American Football, which really put the open-tuned twinkle center stage.

Now, in my estimation, the earliest and most influential combination of twinkle AND noodle comes down to one band (who admittedly tried to emulate AF’s guitar work but definitely noodled way more) - and that’s Algernon Cadwallader. Thus began the third wave [edit: emo revival], and as the twinkly noodley sound of the Philadelphia emo scene percolated on the internet (a la Snowing, Marietta, Glocca Mora etc.), midwest emo became synonymous with twinkly noodley riffs going forward.

Does that sound right? Fill in the blanks if you please, especially with the noodlier stuff.